Tesco's "Policy" on motorhome parking.

Hi there,

I'm not sure when or where, but I read somewhere that Tesco had a policy that allowed motorhomes to park overnight in their car parks.

We have used the system a couple of times travelling up to Scotland without a problem.

Last night however we came within a gnats whisker of being charged £70 for the privilege!!

We swung off the M20 into a Tesco Extra car park near Maidstone. The car park had oodles of space so we went into a nice dark corner out of the way of everyone. I took a walk around and saw a small, dimly lit, notice with the following message:

"You have complained that you cannot find a parking space. In view of this, after three hours of free parking, you agree to pay £70. We will use our number-plate recognition system to contact the DVLC and send he invoice to your home."


We have previously checked with the Tesco staff before settling down for the night so we followed normal procedure and Helen went to have a word with a man in the yellow jacket. "The sign is correct. Tesco don't even own the car park dearie." ("Dearie?" it's a wonder she didn't nut him!)

So, having travelled from the south of Spain sleeping overnight in Service Station Car Parks we finally get to "Rip Off Britain" where motorists are moved on like itinerant lepers or charged through the nose for non-existent services!

"SEVENTY QUID FOR A NIGHT IN A CAR PARK?" as Mr. McEnroe would say "You cannot be serious!"

Rant over - back to the €2.99 a bottle 40% alcohol gin with a splash of tonic and lemon.

Best regards,

Could it be that it's a Tesco Express and not a supermarket store?
Perhaps it's a different policy for their own car park.

PB

I'm sorry, but I just can't understand why anyone would want to stay in a car park overnight, when there are so many other much nicer places to stay.
Chris

Hi Chris,
If you are simply want an overnight stop, and will be moving on early in the morning particularly if you are tired , it is any port in a storm, particularly at this time of the year you can't see a nice view or pleasent suroundings anyway.


Brian

You could well have got off a late ferry and cant find a site,

Hi there,

We had driven up from Perpignan. On day one we overnighted on the peagé. On day two we dawdled up to Paris so that we tackled the peripherique at 1am on day three. (Traffic was still very heavy and next time we will make it 3am! Incidentally, if you need a bit of excitement in your life then try circling Paris during normal daylight hours. A French friend of ours once cut up and upset one of the motorcycle couriers that zoom in and out of traffic. He knew he had upset someone when he heard the thumps and bangs as the courier kicked the offside door of his car into a fine imitation of a pewter mug; whilst travelling at 100 kilometres an hour!!)

Anyway, we then caught an evening train on The Tunnel and were at Maidstone at about 6pm and looking forward to a decent break to avoid the M25 and Dartford Tunnel evening mayhem.

The reason we finished up at Tesco EXTRA (not Express) was that we couldn't get into the one motorway service area we stopped at because the "caravan parking" section AND the "lorry parking" section were both chockablock with lorries!

Best regards,

Hi Dut,
I dont think there is a charge for parking at Tesco Riverhead (Sevenoaks) or Sidcup, both not too far off your M20 route. Worth checking out! (no pun intended!) OR, if you realy get stuck for an overnighter, PM us, in reasonable time, and we may be able to help (we live 3-5 miles off M20/M25)

Mike and Chris.

1b449 wrote:Hi Dut,
I dont think there is a charge for parking at Tesco Riverhead (Sevenoaks) or Sidcup, both not too far off your M20 route. Worth checking out! (no pun intended!) OR, if you realy get stuck for an overnighter, PM us, in reasonable time, and we may be able to help (we live 3-5 miles off M20/M25)

Mike and Chris.

there is also a car park in Tonbridge between Sainsbury's and Waitrose which is council and is free from 6pm until 8 am. As it does not belong to either store it is reasonably quiet overnight too.

Hi there,

Many thanks, but I think we will go back to our normal practice of using ferries leaving very early (on the way out) or very late (coming back) and then sneaking around London in the dead of night!

Best regards,

The £70 parking fine may be an empty threat. Two years ago I received a parking ticket after leaving my car on a hotel car park over night. I was traced by number plate recognition and was offered the chance to pay £60 by return post or £120 if they had to contact me again. I Googled 'parking fines' and found plenty of evidence that they cannot enforce the fine. It is normal to receive two threatening letters then if you don't respond, the matter is dropped. Being a gambler, I decided to test the theory and ignored both letters. Two years later, I have not received a third letter or had to pay a fine!
Keith

Tesco CEO has a motorhome which is why motorhoming customers are allowed to overnight in their car parks. Permission is required though from the duty manager - and he'll tell you if they don't own the car park.